The Hybrid Daughter

Chapter8

I drive until I find “Milly’s.” This café has been in town here for nearly fifty years. The woman is like a sweet grandmother to me. My mother does not know that I come here on occasion to study. The lady is sweet. I am not sure what my mum would do if she were to discover this. There are times when I feel like mum wants to lock me up and hide me away from the world. Sometimes I just do not get her? What is so special about me that she wants to isolate me from everyone? Yet, at the same time, she pushes me out of the house to associate with my friends like Cynthia, Barbara etc. Yet, some like Patrick, and his sister Francine, she does not let me associate with them. She saw me sharing malts with them once at the local mall, and literally pulled the hair away from them. That was bloody embarrassing that day.

“Hello Molly”

“Hello Milly, how are you?”

“You are such a sweetheart, I cannot complain. My rheumatism is acting up but, I will be all right.”

“I will keep you in my prayers Milly.”

“You’re a doll” she says as she gives me a hug and a coffee, with a blueberry scone. She looks like she wants to say more to me then walks away. That was bloody weird.

I sit down and begin to finish reading my book. I feel eyes on me again. I look around and find Mr. Crandal watching me from the farmers market across the street. I notice he is starting to walk over. I panic, I collect my items, I excuse myself to use the restroom, and find a back door. I quickly exited out the back. I walk two blocks until I turn the corner and find the street where I parked my car. I notice that Mr. Crandal is no longer in sight. I stepped into my car and began to drive around the city. I found a quaint park near a wooded area on the opposite side of town. I walk over to a bench near a nature path. I sit and finish reading my book.

Strangely I hear a rustling noise in the brush somewhere down the nature path. I hear growling which makes me sore afraid. I walked down the path to see what could be making the noise, my book forgotten temporarily. I make sure to see my surroundings and not stray from the path. I see something hiding behind a tree. My pulse quickens, I am about to ask who or what is there when I see glowing red eyes staring back and me. I shriek and run as fast I can back to my park bench. I hear it following me. It is running impossibly fast. I quicken my pace, hoping I can outrun it. Hoping that whatever this animal is, it will give up its chase. I have no intention of dying today. As I am running, I see something what looks like a person from behind about to tackle me. I throw my hands up to protect myself. Out of nowhere, there is a blurred flash, and this insane person flies away from me, back into the trees.

I fall to the ground, I hear the sound of snarls in the distance, and what sounds like fighting. I lay there for a moment, feeling frozen.

After a moment of shock, I picked myself up and ran. I collect my belongings from the park bench, I head straightway towards my car. With shaking hands I unlock all the doors, start the car and for several minutes stare at the nature path where something sinister nearly attacked me. My mind is still boggled as to what could have happened. I saw everything with clarity. The thing I saw standing behind the tree was a person. A man to be precise. A man that moved as fast as the wind, had red eyes like a demon. If I did not know any better, I would say it was Mr. Crandall. Yet, that would be preposterous. Mr. Crandall maybe a perverted asshole but, he does not have red eyes, and no living being can move as fast as the speed of light. This is not a movie with Superman.

Something evil was in that nature path yet, something good also. Someone saved me today. I have no idea who it could have been. Someone who could move just as fast as the insidious creature who nearly claimed my life, also saved it. Perhaps God saw my hour of need and sent a guardian angel. Whoever it was, I owe them my eternal gratitude. May God be with them. I drive away, heading back home. As I drive past, I see Crandal glaring at me from the inside of the café. I concentrate on my driving as I race home.